Bannister Federal Complex

The private development company hoping to take control of the old Bannister Federal Complex is a step closer to taking its recommendations for clean-up to federal regulators.

“Most of our fieldwork is done now. We’ve completed most of the information gathering,” says Kevin Breslin with CenterPoint Properties, who spoke Monday at a meeting of the South Kansas City Alliance. “Our scientists, our engineers, our specialists are now studying those results.”

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II says it’s time for Congress to hold hearings on federal compensation for former nuclear plant workers.

A McClatchy newspapers investigation found fewer than half of applicants received payouts from the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, which was created in 2001 to help pay the medical expenses of factory workers exposed to radiation and other carcinogens.

A private developer interested in the old Bannister Federal Complex fielded questions Wednesday night from south Kansas City residents concerned about environmental remediation efforts.

CenterPoint Properties is in the middle of an 18-month study to identify possible future uses of the site, which operated as manufacturing plant in World War II before housing the General Services Administration starting in the 1960s.

In its business session Thursday the Kansas City Council heard a report on the future of the now mostly vacant Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City. Kevin Breslin of Centerpoint Properties, which is assisting the GSA in repurposing the facility said the existing Bannister buildings, with the exception of the facilities occupied by the U.S. Marines, will be torn down.

Breslin said the old structures have outlived their usefulness and starting fresh will allow for a more aggressive environmental clean-up while allowing private businesses to re-create the complex in a manner that suits its "next future."

The federal government's General Services Administration is moving from South Kansas City to an office building near Union Station. On Monday's Up To Date, GSA's regional administrator talks about the details of moving more than 1,000 employees across the city.

Kansas City, Mo. – Federal health officials arrive at the Banister Federal Complex today, the latest part of an ongoing investigation of possible hazards inside the General Services Administration's (GSA's) side of the complex. It's the first time health officials have been called in.

Kansas City, Mo. – People worried about health safety at the Bannister Road Federal Complex in Kansas City brought their concerns to a hearing last night sponsored by the Jackson County Executive. Many are convinced chemicals and metals caused cancers and respiratory illness. And they blame toxins used at the plant where non nuclear components for nuclear weapons were built for decades.